Antonyms: A Performance Metric to Assess Word-Finding Difficulty in Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Word-finding difficulty (tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon) is among the most prevalent changes reported by persons with multiple sclerosis (MS), but we lack validated performance metrics to assess this common symptom. Antonyms is a novel task evaluating retrieval of target phonological codes via a brief, clinically-feasible paradigm that controls for other cognitive processes. Test-retest reliability was good (0.85). Among 660 patients, Antonyms demonstrated better criterion validity than traditional language tasks (e.g., animal generation, Boston Naming Test). Demonstrating discriminate validity, Antonyms was specifically related to patient-reported difficulties with expressive language rather than working memory, executive/speed, or episodic memory. The Antonyms task is provided herein.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{sumowski2026antonyms,
  title = {{Antonyms: A Performance Metric to Assess Word-Finding Difficulty in Multiple Sclerosis}},
  author = {J. F. Sumowski and E. Dvorak},
  howpublished = {medRxiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.64898/2026.09.21.26363587},
  url = {https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.21.26363587v1},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Antonyms: A Performance Metric to Assess Word-Finding Difficulty in Multiple Sclerosis
AU  - J. F. Sumowski
AU  - E. Dvorak
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/21
PB  - medRxiv
DO  - 10.64898/2026.09.21.26363587
UR  - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.21.26363587v1
AB  - Word-finding difficulty (tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon) is among the most prevalent changes reported by persons with multiple sclerosis (MS), but we lack validated performance metrics to assess this common symptom. Antonyms is a novel task evaluating retrieval of target phonological codes via a brief, clinically-feasible paradigm that controls for other cognitive processes. Test-retest reliability was good (0.85). Among 660 patients, Antonyms demonstrated better criterion validity than traditional language tasks (e.g., animal generation, Boston Naming Test). Demonstrating discriminate validity, Antonyms was specifically related to patient-reported difficulties with expressive language rather than working memory, executive/speed, or episodic memory. The Antonyms task is provided herein.
ER  -

Abstract

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